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Ambulance Purchase Delayed After Complaints of Favoritism

New York City, which has had a history of troubles trying to buy ambulances, has run into difficulties again. The Fire Department has postponed buying a new fleet of 400 ambulances because of concerns that the city's design specifications unfairly favor the city's current supplier, officials said.

The department had planned to solicit bids for a new ambulance contract in October but canceled that plan after two companies complained that the city's design guidelines seemed tailored to favor the existing vendor, officials said.

To address those concerns, the department has hired an outside consultant to review its ambulance specifications and insure that they are impartial before asking companies to bid on a new contract, perhaps in the spring.

''Our technical people thought the specifications, as written, may have limited competition,'' Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen said. ''We hope that by hiring an expert we can open this process.''

The city has long had problems getting companies to bid on its ambulance contracts, in part because so few companies are capable of manufacturing large numbers of custom-made vehicles as quickly as it requires. But there have also been allegations of favoritism over the years.

The purchase of ambulances would be the Fire Department's first since taking over the Emergency Medical Service from the city's hospital agency in 1996. The $44 million contract, one of the largest in the department's history, would provide for the replacement of the existing fleet over five years.

Fire officials said they had already rewritten parts of the specifications to eliminate several provisions that might have favored the current vendor, Horton Emergency Vehicles, an Ohio-based company that has supplied the city with ambulances since 1995. Among the provisions that raised concerns with Horton's competitors was one that said the agency preferred vehicles built with Y-shaped braces. Several competitors said those braces were unique to Horton's design.

''The specifications were so ridiculous,'' said Ken Geljack, president of Medico, an Indiana manufacturer. ''It was a Horton spec.''

But David Lamon, a Horton spokesman, said there was nothing in the draft that gave his company an unfair advantage. The specifications are the city's, not Horton's, he said.

Fire officials said the specifications were based on those used in 1995 by the city's Health and Hospitals Corporation to award the city's last ambulance contract. But Alfred Improta, a former executive with that agency who helped draw up the last contract, said those specifications were not part of it.

Horton figured in another controversy over alleged favoritism in the awarding of city ambulance contracts. In 1986, the City Comptroller's office questioned whether the city specifications favored Horton, and in 1987 the city put its ambulance contract out for bid again after Horton's Westchester distributor emerged as the only bidder. A subsequent city investigation found no evidence of criminality. Horton has since changed ownership.

Under the current contract, awarded in 1995, Horton, acting through its Westchester distributor, has supplied the city with 259 ambulances -- 64 percent of the fleet -- at a cost of $27 million, officials said. Fire officials said they were satisfied with Horton's performance and reliability but hoped that greater competition would mean lower prices. The ambulances now on the road cost about $103,000 each, officials said.

Denise Collins, a spokeswoman for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which supervises city equipment purchases, said her agency had found the current specifications restrictive.

But a spokesman for Horton's Westchester distributor, Hayes Shimp, said, ''There is nothing in there that cannot be purchased or manufactured by anybody in the industry.''

Horton's main competitor, Wheeled Coach Industries, complained by letter to city officials in August that the specifications favored ambulances constructed with ''pie-shaped'' corner posts, as Horton models usually are. Wheeled Coach, which uses square-edged posts, said it saw no reason to specify the shape as long as the structural strength met city standards.